1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to illumination devices and provides an improved flexible extension for such devices. More particularly, this invention provides a flexible spacer which may be incorporated between the bulb casing, or head, and the battery casing, or body, of a flashlight.
2. The Background Art
At times it is desirable to extend a flashlight head (carrying the attendant light source) from a flashlight body. For example, an extension of this kind facilitates the inspection of components in an airplane. Similarly, appropriately configured such extensions are useful to inspect components in any crowded, cramped or partially obstructed environment. In such cases, it is particularly advantageous to be able to direct the illumination from a flashlight, by way of bending a flexible portion of the flashlight, to fit around obstructions without significantly limiting the field of view of an inspector. It may also be advantageous to be able to adapt a flexible member to interface with a support structure simply to aim a flashlight beam without requiring hands-on operation of the flashlight.
Flexible extensions which function to space apart a flashlight head (having a light source) and a flashlight body (carrying an energy source), are known, but all known devices present one or more disadvantages. One commercially available flashlight extension is sold by Aircraft Flashlights Inc. as a xe2x80x9cFlexible Shaft Flashlight.xe2x80x9d The Flexible Shaft Flashlight product includes a flexible member which may be removed to convert the product to a regular flashlight. One example of the Flexible Shaft Flashlight extension has a shiny metal conduit flexing member containing an insulated electrically conducting wire. The conduit is a continuous helical or spiral wrapped piece of metal configured to form a hollow cylinder, wherein each wrap partially overlaps a prior wrap. The substrate metal forming such a conduit is chrome plated, thereby to create a shiny surface. Another example of the Flexible Shaft Flashlight has a substantially glare-free, black-colored, heat-shrink tubing installed over a metal conduit flexing member, which also contains an insulated electrically conducting wire.
Such prior offerings are unnecessarily expensive and have other drawbacks. A substantial amount of manufacturing effort is required to form a flexible conduit member. Additional manufacturing effort is required to insert an electrically conductive, insulated wire into the conduit. The conduit flexing member may loose desirable flexing characteristics with use as the conduit member relaxes, and overlapping wraps no longer help to hold a conduit in a deformed shape. Moreover, internal components may break (including the small-diameter conductive wire) after repeated flexing. Furthermore, extra manufacturing effort is required to add an external protective and/or decorative coating to either electrically insulate the conduit member or to prevent glare from a shiny surface. Added structure, such as an external heat-shrink tubing, may reduce desirable plastic, or deformed-shape maintaining properties by disadvantageously increasing the restorative force tending to form a straight extension member. Such restorative force, or memory, limits the angle which can be maintained by a flexible member subsequent to undergoing a bending displacement.
In view of the above mentioned disadvantages, it would be an advance in the industry to provide a device for flexibly extending a flashlight head from a flashlight body which overcomes these and other drawbacks.
In view of the above described state of the art, the present invention seeks to realize the following objects and advantages.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a flexible flashlight extension which is efficient and easy to use.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a flexible flashlight extension which can be readily manufactured at a low cost.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a flexible flashlight extension that has improved properties to hold sharper bend angles subsequent to a given bending displacement.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a flexible flashlight extension which can be easily positioned.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more fully apparent from the description and claims which follow, or may be learned by the practice of the invention.
The present invention is directed to portable devices having flexible portions to provide directable illumination to areas including cramped, awkward, or partially obstructed areas. Most particularly, the invention provides a removable flexible extension to space apart a flashlight head and body of a commercially available flashlight, thereby creating a deformable extension that can be shaped to a desired configuration.
A typical flashlight extension is flexible, and has a body having first and second end fittings separated by a length distance. The body generally includes an electrically conductive core having a memory to elastically deform under small bending displacements, and plastic material properties to substantially hold a deformed shape subsequent to large bending displacements. The body also generally includes a second member, forming a substantially nonconductive and cylindrical barrier disposed generally concentrically with the first member. The body also preferably includes a third member, forming a conductive element electrically isolated from the first member, and being spaced radially from the first member by the second member, and further being disposed approximately concentrically with respect to the second member. The body may also include a fourth member, disposed radially about the third member, and forming a protective covering for substantially the entire length of the third member. Typically, the first, second, third, and fourth members are approximately concentrically arranged. The second, third, and fourth members typically have material properties and cross-sectional dimensions in combination such that deformations of the body are substantially governed by deformations of the first member.
A first end fitting is typically affixed to a first end of the body, and is generally configured and arranged to interface in a removable and electrically conductive relation with an end of a flashlight subsequent to the removal of a head of the flashlight from the end of the flashlight. A second end fitting is generally affixed to a second end of the body, and is usually configured and arranged to interface in a removable and electrically conductive relation with the flashlight head. In general, the first body member comprises the primary load carrying member of the body. Representative bodies have a preferable outside diameter between about 0.1 inch and 0.5 inch, and a preferable length between about 1 inch and 36 inches. However, both larger and smaller body diameters, as well as longer body lengths, are workable and are within the scope of the present invention.
One example of the present invention is formed from four concentric members, wherein the first member includes a solid metal, typically copper wire, the second member includes plastic-type materials, the third member includes a plurality of metal wires, and the fourth member includes plastic-type materials. An exemplary body includes cable sold commercially under the designation RG-11 type coaxial cable. Different embodiments of the present invention may be used in combination with an assortment of commercially available flashlights.